It was time for a change

Published 7:32 am Monday, October 3, 2016

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">BATON ROUGE — You had to wonder if Les Miles was watching.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Well, no, you didn’t.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He said he surely would, and you know he still loves those LSU Tigers. So of course he watched every first-down pass, every odd-ball formation, every newcomer with the ball, not to mention all 42 points and every one of the 634 yards his old team rolled up on Missouri.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But you wonder what he thought about it all.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">My guess is that Miles was ecstatic for them, heel-of-palm clapping encouragement for the duration of LSU 42, Missouri 7. That’s just the way he is, a class act to the end.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">I’m sure he even wishes Ed Orgeron, suddenly the most popular Cajun in Louisiana, all the best in his unapologetic quest to pass an 8-game audition.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">At this point, there’s no reason to pile on Miles. No reason to wonder again how, in the end, he could be so stubborn.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">His legacy at LSU is secure. It’s a little tarnished at the moment, sure, but it will age well over time.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">No one will ever say he wasn’t good for the Tigers. No one will suggest that, on balance, the adopted Michigan Man wasn’t fun for LSU. Hopefully there will come a time in his dotage when he’s a beloved visitor returning often to Tiger Stadium.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And, watching the Tigers at play making it all look so easy against Missouri, it was easy to forget that Miles had many fun-filled nights like this, often times against far more challenging competition than Missouri was able to muster.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Not lately, of course.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But, yes, there were times under Miles when the Tigers did everything under Miles that Orgeron apparently snapped his fingers and got fixed in less than a week.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It had been a while, of course, and nobody could see anything on the horizon resembling the good old Mad Hatter days coming back anytime soon.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">So give Miles one last wink and a tip of an oddly tilted cap. But if Saturday night proved anything, it was that LSU was due for the almost tearful changing of the guard that came last week.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Lovable as Miles was, his stay at LSU had gotten old and mostly stale, and it no longer really played to the home crowd.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It must be true what they say — no matter how good a coach is, at some point he overstays his welcome.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It’s OK. You don’t have to hate on Miles to admit you liked what you saw Saturday night. Sometimes it’s best for both parties to move on.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And that whole atmosphere made it obvious.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">LSU needed a reboot.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It surely wasn’t as simple as Orgeron and the Tigers made it look in the unveiling, but it was a start — a much-needed fresh start.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Everything was different, even before anybody in purple and gold had any inkling of the fun and fireworks in the offing.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The tailgate area had a different jive. Tiger Stadium was different. The pregame had a different feel. There were 102,000 souls with the look of children waking up on Christmas morning.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And the Tigers were dang well different.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The offense is getting most of the headlines, and for good reason.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">That was the whole problem, wasn’t it? The archaic attack?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Orgeron wasted little time addressing that, regretting only that the short turn-around for his first game gave him time only to “tweak” that Model-T.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">If a few tweaks can unleash the most yards LSU has ever had in an SEC game, just imagine when the overhaul rolls into town.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">In layman’s terms, they ran a lot of the same plays from different formations and mixed up the personnel while trying to be less predictable in down and distance. Basically they used the threat of the pass to open up the field for the running game — 418 yards worth, it turned out.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It’s not brain surgery and certainly not a radical idea.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But it went beyond that offense.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Forget the new formations, the innovative play-calling. There was just a different spring in the step of these Tigers.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It was like that old confidence and attitude was back.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It wasn’t just the new toys they had to play with. It turns out the whole week leading up the game was far different.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Miles was almost universally adored by the players, so there was some concern the team might pout and deep-six the season.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Obviously they didn’t, which suggests that, whether they realized it or not, they needed to hear a new voice (even if many of them likely can’t understand a word Orgeron grunts).</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">As for the noticeable spring in their step, Orgeron apparently thought they’d been practicing too long.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He more than cut on-field practice time in half last week, working smarter not harder, and saving their legs for Saturday’s chores.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Orgeron did let it leak postgame that they now have themed practices each day.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">They are: 1. Telling The Truth Monday; 2. Competition Tuesday; 3. Turnover Wednesday; 4. No Repeat Thursday; 5. Focus Friday.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">No idea what any of that means, but it is currently being deciphered like Egyptian hieroglyphics (or a Miles press conference), so more details should emerge.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But for now we only know that it’s working.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And was overdue.</span>